Editorial by- Shelley Bluejay Pierce
January 13, 2013

Do any of my readers remember this picture? I wonder how many will recall the serious story line that  accompanied this photo and the pleas for help that rang out in my coverage posted here in full:  Attawapiskat- Life or Death Battle for an Education

This was in January 2009 and we jump ahead to January 2013. 

I am preparing for a radio interview tomorrow and I realize how incredibly difficult, if not impossible, it is for the mainstream public to gain access to truth in the media. 

Having been a White House level investigative journalist, I know that getting to the real truths behind a story is made very difficult by those who twist and spin the information that they release to reporters. As I watch the whole media spin unfold around Chief Theresa Spence, I cringe knowing that she is literally between a rock and a hard place. She is putting her very life on the line for the beliefs and welfare of her People at Attawapiskat. And yet, if she doesn't play some of the political games and deal with the ravenous media, she loses her ability to get funding and a spotlight in the news which allows her some opportunity to speak out their causes. 

The injustice here is that the People in Attawapiskat are doing so very much in the social media outlets and even in representing themselves in Ottawa but there opinions and voiced complaints are never heard. Mainstream journalists are often assigned a story a day to cover and get the highlights so their release goes to press by the deadline. This leaves no time to speak with anyone with but spin-doctors or those in the highlight of a subject matter. The common people are rarely given an opportunity to speak.

I was given the distinct honor to work with Jacqueline House from Six Nations and learned firsthand how difficult it was to keep up with the rapidly changing information from inside the leadership there. So often, the true and real news that was happening on the ground and inside the meetings with the leadership at Six Nations was blatantly ignored by mainstream media.

Once again, I see this system that does not work for the Chief and the People in Attawapiskat. I was again given the great honor to work with some tribal members in Attawapiskat during the early days of their cry for help when they had no drinking water and had homes and school building placed atop toxic dumpsites that were poisoning the People. I remember hammering on doors of news outlets asking for journalist coverage, making telephone calls to some of the biggest relief agencies out there....I was rudely rebuked and ignored by a Native environmental group when I begged for help to get clean drinking water to the people in Attawapiskat. 

I remember back to when many people I spoke to would ask me again, "Ok, wait...you are calling about what? where? What or who is an Attawa..."  They didn't even know how to pronounce the name of the reserve these Cree live at. Those were the early days and my precious relations up there in the far North country have never given up nor backed off with their determination to make their reserve a safe and healthy place to live. They are truly some of my heroes.

We arrive now in 2013. Out of nowhere, this incredible power in the mainstream media has happened. Chief Spence from Attawapiskat and her hunger strike is something that the mainstream media can sink their teeth into and run with very quickly. They have seized the great moment in the spotlight and run to their editors with their quickly concocted stories so the story could run before deadline.

Now....let me tell you a real truth here folks. The reason that I left mainstream journalism all together is because of this very behavior. A good story creates a feeding frenzy. Journalists are swarming and snapping up the bits of information to create a sensationalized story. The goal is to snatch the best bits and having no time, they often ignore digging into all the nooks and crannies of the story. The goal is never to have a prolonged relationship with and near the people involved behind the scenes who can relay the true story. That is not what they are paid to do. They are paid to grab the best highlights and run with it and then jump onto the next sensation.

I have known some of the people at Six Nations and Attawapiskat for many years now. I love some as if they are my family. I embrace their causes and I will fight to the end beside them to achieve the simple fair deal they so justly deserve. But, even with having known them this long and having heard their inside stories for many years, I still would never speak FOR them or try to seem as though my words and opinions are THEIR words. 

These beautifully strong and empowered People have their own voices and their own unified power. They do not need a journalist to run at the mouth in public on their behalf, though I am honored that they have allowed me to speak out in support of their causes publically.

We all know the names "Six Nations" and "Attawapiskat" now. The whole world has perhaps had the chance to learn about Chief Spence and her hunger strike that she takes on simply so she gains audience with a leadership that she should always have free access to. But now, she must starve herself for over a month and deal with a media circus..... simply to make her People's position heard.

Today, I voice my disgust and anger at outdated systems that need to be replaced with those that work for the protection of the Earth and all things upon it. The Grandmothers and Grandfathers are sharing their wisdom and guidance. The young ones are willing and empowered to withstand whatever comes at them for this is our time.... we the People, are truly, IDLE NO MORE.

Shelley Bluejay Pierce

Mubick Wamni Wiya-- I am a proud Canadian Metis

January 13, 2013

Karuk Tribe battle against “Recreational Genocide”

Karuk Tribe battle against “Recreational Genocide”


March 14, 2009

CALIFORNIA- Over the past many months, new threats to the Klamath River salmon populations have prompted decisive action by the Karuk Tribe in California. Leaf Hillman, Vice-Chairman for the Tribe, told Native American Times in an interview this week that the recent attacks upon their ancestral fishing grounds are, “Nothing more than Recreational Genocide.”

Dams, drought, developmental expansion and environmental contaminations have plagued the local rivers and experts have said that California may be faced with the worst fisheries collapse in history.

In 2008, the Karuk Tribe, California Trout, and Friends of the North Fork formally petitioned California Fish and Game to restrict suction dredge mining. This controversial gold mining technique has brought strong criticism from local groups who demand that state agencies limit the recreational mining technique.

The Karuk, aided by support from the Tsi-Akim Maidu Tribe, the Sierra Fund, various sport-fishing groups, and several other conservation organizations are fighting to protect the endangered fish populations. Despite strong opposition by all of these groups, the agency decided not to act on the petition, allowing the recreational mining to continue.

As a result of the Karuk Tribe filing a lawsuit in 2006, the Fish and Game department is under a court order to re-write mining permit rules statewide. Due to extreme budget constraints in California, however, the agency has yet to act on the new mining rule mandate.

Recently, a recreational gold mining club, referring to themselves as, “The New 49ers,” legally challenged the Karuk Tribe’s right to fish at their ancestral fishing area, Ishi Pishi Falls. The hobbyist miners contend that this violation of the California state constitution, allows the Tribe to kill far more salmon than gold mining and other activities combined and that the commission has illegally granted fishing privileges to a specific group of people, specifically, the Karuks.

Dr. Craig Tucker, spokesman for the Karuk, told Native American Times, “Depending on how far the mining groups want to challenge the ancestral fishing rights, the tribe may seek federal fishing rights as a remedy. In the meantime, we are asking the Department of Fish and Game Director, Don Koch, to immediately implement emergency restrictions on where and when suction dredging can take place. This same authority is used to restrict recreational and commercial fishing when the fish runs are low.”

The groups banding together to protect the fish species in the Klamath River are battling against a mining process called ‘suction dredging.’ These dredges, powered by gas or diesel engines, use powerful vacuum hoses to pull the gravel and sediment from the bottom of riverbeds. This sediment material passes through a sluice box and allows the heavier gold particles to settle into a series of riffles. After the gold is removed, the balance of the dredged material is often dumped back into the river.

This dredging technique is known to redistribute toxic mercury into the environment. As stated in earlier press reports, Izzy Martin, Director of the Sierra Fund, explained, “There is a lot of mercury settled on the bottom of these rivers as the result of gold mining operations in the 1800’s. Dredging reintroduces mercury to the stream creating a toxic hazard for fish and people.”

Mercury contamination has become a global concern as it applies to fish species in that testing has revealed increasingly high levels of mercury in fish populations that may be harmful when consumed. Exposure to mercury can lead to mental retardation, birth defects and neurological damage.

Suction dredging has come increasingly under attack as declining numbers of fish species such as steelhead, Coho salmon, green sturgeon, and lamprey are reported. Damage to the spawning grounds for the fish and the environmental impacts to critical river habitats are drawing the varied groups, including the Karuk Tribe, to take strong action to stop recreational mining.

“Dredging disturbs spawning gravels and kills salmon eggs and immature lamprey that reside in the gravel for up to seven years before maturing. In a system like the Klamath where salmon can be stressed due to poor water quality, having a dredge running in the middle of the stream affects the fishes ability to reach their spawning grounds,” explained Toz Soto, lead fisheries biologist for the Karuk Tribe, in previous press reports.

California Fish and Game manages suction dredge permits and opponents to this type of mining state that the CFG sustains a significant financial loss since the mining fees fail to cover expenses. Figures given by these groups explain that this amounts to spending $1.25 million per year to subsidize the destruction of California fisheries by gold mining hobbyists.

Many of the recreational miners come into California from other states because the mining laws are less restrictive there.

The Karuk Tribe, indigenous to the Klamath River region, states that the threat to them is greater than ever. Vice-Chairman Hillman told Native American Times, “The first gold rush killed more than half our people in 10 years. This modern gold rush continues to kill our fish and our culture.”

Hillman added, “The salmon populations have been effected in so many ways from dams on the rivers to environmental damage and mining. As it is now, we cannot harvest enough fish for our ceremonies or to meet our families’ food needs. The recreational gold miners are just a repeat of what began over 100 years ago.”

Though the Karuk Tribe does harvest salmon for food and ceremonial use only, the Tribe rarely harvests more than 200 fish. Since the population of the Tribe is approximately 4,200 members, the amount of fish taken from Ishi Pishi Falls doesn’t begin to meet the needs of their members. With recent drought warnings across California being issued, the Karuk fear that the salmon numbers will be far less given the stresses all ready upon the fish.

In response to the newest attacks from the recreational gold miners, The New 49-ers, Leaf Hillman stated, “Our fishing grounds have been used by the Karuk long before this land was called ‘America.’ We still use traditional dip nets to fish for the migrating salmon and our way of catching them allows us to release the more endangered species back into the river so that their populations can increase.”

Vice Chairman Hillman concluded by telling Native American Times, “We will not be removed from our traditional fishing grounds in favor of these miners. Harvesting and consuming salmon is a fundamental part of our Karuk culture. The recreational miners now threaten more than the survival of fish, they threaten the culture of the Karuk.”